The Yamaha R3 looks way better, and offers a more genuine racing position. The difference in performance exists, but is not that important when you already have a bigger bike for the weekend, like myself ( Honda CBR600f). Beyond that, Yamaha offers 4 year warranty versus Kawasaki's 2 year in my country, and recently I saw a guy that had an accident with his 2018 Ninja 400, with a lot of damage to the frontal fairings and headlights only ( no structural damage)… the price of the new parts by the Kawasaki dealer was estimated as high as 2.5 times the price of a complete new bike !!!

I own both 2018 r3 and 2019 ninja 400. Had enough riding time on both and can honestly say my r3 is just better in every way. Only thing my 400 offers over the r3 is I can get 20mph more out of my top speed. That's it. My r3 is just better at everything else.

I commute on my r3, and honestly it feels very at home at freeway speeds. There's definitely room to be more aggressive on it, however the low end torque is pretty mellow, and the sweet spot doesn't last for long until you're shifting again to get up to higher speeds. The Ninja has every edge in the performance aspect which makes it great for a trackday bike, but the r3 has, in my opinion,ore comforo for the city commute with a little bit of backroad racing room. You're far less likely to get yourself into trouble on the r3, and to me the absence of the slipper clutch gives me a better feel for the engine, which helps me hone my skills as far as acceleration and shifting goes. The r3 is, in my opinion, Yamahas way of getting you hooked on the thrill of sport biking, and keeping you in the loop until you're ready for the learning experience that is the r6.

Sitting next to each other, the R3 looks soooo much nicer. It has a modern agressive look, those gold forks really stand out, the dash looks super high quality. I can't help but see some Ninja 250 DNA in the 400. Looks ok on its own, but sitting next to other bikes, you can tell it was built on a budget. But the ninja 250 was just a good motor in a frame with some plastic tacked on, seems like the 400 has that same feel to it. Looks wise, the R3 is so much nicer, but i'd probably still go for the 400. I'd go for the Z400 though.

Tell Yamaha to make the R5. 499cc parallel twin. Crossplane crank. YCCT. YCCI. Quick shifter up and down. Abs. 160 rear. 120 front. Inverted fork. Single brake caliper from the R6. Dash from the Gen 1 R3. Forget this LED crap. Insert meme of Fry from Futurama. SHUT UP AND TAKE MY MONEY!